The conference including the participation of the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy served as a summary of the actions taken by the government in support of the local governments running social welfare homes. The briefing was also attended by the Minister of National Defence Mariusz Błaszczak, the Deputy Masovia Voivode Sylwester Dąbrowski, Major General Wieslaw Kukula, Commander of the Territorial Defence Forces and Sylwester Korgul, Bialobrzeg Staroste.

Current situation

At present, 25 Social Welfare Homes are under quarantine. Out of the 80,000 residents of SWHs in Poland, only 340 people are infected with the coronavirus, which is only 0.42%. “At this difficult time of the epidemic, our government was where it had to be, it is our duty to help. Our common task was to protect, care for the health and life of Polish citizens” - stressed Marlena Maląg. These joint ministerial activities and good cooperation with local authorities contributed to the low infection rates in SWH residents. At present, only 0.42% of all SWH residents are infected with the coronavirus.

Assistance from the very first day

Since the beginning of the pandemic, local governments have received support in providing adequate security for workers and people living in social welfare homes. The Białobrzegi Staroste Sylwester Korgul emphasized that the first protective measures were delivered as soon as within hours after detecting a large number of coronavirus cases.

Material, financial and technical support

Since March, the centres for the ill and disabled have been supported at every possible level. Material assistance was provided at the beginning So far, over 37,000 litres of disinfectants, nearly 1.8 million masks, over 3.5 million pairs of gloves, 522,000 visors and 116,000 protective suits have been delivered to social welfare homes. In addition to the PLN 20 million that have already been transferred to the centres, there are plans to transfer another financial support.

During the conference, Minister Marlena Maląg stated: “The Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy has introduced guidelines for the operation of Social Welfare Homes. These guidelines were introduced by local government officials, and they were applied by the directors of social welfare homes.” They regulate many issues, but they all serve a common purpose - the safety and health of residents and employees of the centres. Additionally, changes were introduced to the anti-crisis shield, which also supported local governments. One of the adopted changes made allowed to transfer a local government employee to a social welfare organizational unit subject to the employee's consent.

Ongoing monitoring

 “Each day, we are in contact with the voivodeship offices which supervise the tasks carried out by the local authorities” - indicated the Head of the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social policy. Daily video conferences allow the centres to react on an ongoing basis and support them through local authorities.

Poland in comparison with Europe

Our country is doing very well in terms of care for the elderly and disabled in social welfare homes compared to other European countries. “In other European countries such as France, Ireland, Spain, coronavirus-related mortality among the residents of Social Welfare Homes amounted to approximately 60%. In our country, the mortality rates were less than 10%.”